


Our Crumbling Walls (Keith/Lance)

by ShadowBeast



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Depressed Lance (Voltron), Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Everyone's Depressed, Hunk is Crying, I Don't Even Know, I'm trying to make this a realistic as possible, It might take a bit for things to pick up, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pidge is Dying, Sorry Not Sorry, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, What Have I Done, Which is hard since it's an apocolypse, keith is TRYING, they all need a break
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-05-21 22:44:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14924279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowBeast/pseuds/ShadowBeast
Summary: Backstoryyyyy:Altean Lab and Galra Tech were making an cure for terminal cancer, making great progress to until Zarkon decided to try adding nuclear substances. Immediately it morphed into a reversing affect and deteriorated brain tissue, but Zarkon stubbornly wouldn't quit the project. Before it became a deadly virus Zarkon dosed himself with the serum, corrupting his brain in the process but not killing him. Now instead of working to cure the human race he strived to end the human race. He added more of the nuclear substances to the virus till it became a deadly disease that would spread through air. However, it only took effect after the person died or if their dna was mixed with it.Alfor scrambled to find a cure against the virus, the search for a cure was named project Voltron, but he never got to finish it in time. Zarkon had already aired off the virus in several planned across the globe, and it immediately took effect anywhere and everywhere.(I can't say the plot because that spoils stuff)





	1. The First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first story on this site, and I'm going to try and keep to it. I actually started this out as a roleplay with a friend of mine (who is also writing this story on Wattpad in Lance Pov, her link is https://www.wattpad.com/user/Lumonel so go check her out! I love her so much, she's the best! no homo though lol) I'm going to write the story in my own way and in Keith's pov most of the time.   
> But yes as you can tell, this is going to be a more depressing and bloody story then most fanfics. I'm trying to make this focus on the group helping each other keep their heads up. So I hope you like it!

Today was hotter then usual as the sun beat down on the desolate road that Keith walked down, it didn't help that he was wearing all black either. His jacket draped over his head to shield his pale skin from the piercing sun. Sweat rolled down him uncomfortably, making him feel sticky. His hair stuck out in odd ends since it was very unkept, and starting to grow a little longer then he normally liked it. His backpack was slung over his left shoulder as he headed back to his little base.

All in all Keith was doing generally alright through the whole apocalypse thing, he was presently housing in a broken down gas station and he was just coming back from check the west perimeter of the area. There was a horde of dead in that perimeter that he wanted to keep an eye on, he had no idea where they came from but he knew he would have to leave the area soon. One of the problems of being on your own was that you had to constantly had to be on guard, and sleep was near impossible at times. Not to mention he had nightmares that would plague him every so often, and he guessed that was his body's way of coping with stress. Other then that though he wasn't starving, hungry certainly, but not dying of malnutrition. Although he had to admit that the gas station was running dreadfully low on food now, which meant that he needed to leave a soon as possible. He was OK on water, but he would have liked it if he had more since three water bottles wouldn't last long in this heat.

As he approached the gas station he noticed something move on the inside, frowning he unsheathed his hunting knife out of the sheath on his thigh. He didn't need one of the dead contaminated whatever food was left in the gas station, so he quietly entered the station. Slowly he crept down the aisles, so he wouldn't alert it he was there. After creeping up behind it he grabbed it's shoulder and whirled it around to face him while he raised his knife to sink into it's head, but he froze when he noticed it..he.. was living.

Suddenly Keith felt a pair of hands press against his chest, pushing him away with enough force to knock him back and drop his knife. Landing on his ass Keith grimaced in pain, but watched as the person who pushed him tumble backwards against the wall. They were shaking in a panicked state and pulled a gun from their waist band, and Keith quickly threw his hands up to show he wouldn't hurt him. He had no idea what this person was capable of in a panicked state. "Don't shoot! I won't hurt you I thought you were one of  _them_ ," he stated while gesturing to the window outside with his thumb.

With a deep sigh of relief the man in front of him dropped the gun to the floor, which in Keith's opinion was dumb to do since it could have accidently fired.

Keith looked him over quickly, finding him to be a tall male with tan skin, which was a helpful trait in the summer sun. With blue eyes which contrasted his brown hair. He was also a twig, and Keith wasn't sure if it was just natural or if the guy was just starving. Maybe even both. Being gay Keith could say that he found the person attractive, but he was definitely wasn't his type. They seemed to jumpy and dependent on other people. 

Standing up and picking up his knife, Keith walked down one of the aisles making sure this guy hadn't taken the water bottle he had hid behind the empty vending machine. Sliding his backpack off he slid the water in his bag and then zipped it back up. "Do you have a name, or am I going to have to make one up for you?" Keith asked. He might as well know the name to the person he almost mistook for a zombie and killed. 

They mumbled something which he couldn't hear and then they spoke up a little louder, "Lance McClain."

Keith could hear Lance get up finally and start to look around, so Keith went to go quickly collect his other hidden stashes of food before Lance found them. "So um.. what's your name?" Lance asked from an aisle over and Keith hummed like he didn't hear him, which he had. 

"Hey I gave you my name!" 

"Keep your voice down, you'll attract the dead. My god you're loud," Keith muttered the last part rudely and Lance went quiet. Sighing a bit at how he realized he should give the guy some slack, "it's Keith Kogane."

"Cool, what's with the mullet? You an 80s fan or something, because that time is passed and it needs to go," Lance stated and Keith frowned and ignored his comment. He liked his hair the way it was and it wasn't changing. 

He could hear Lance open the bathroom door and then his eyes widened as Lance screeched, "SHIT!" he practically screamed and Keith heard a thud. "KEITH HELP!" lance yelled and Keith peered down the aisle and paled as he saw Lance pinned under a zombie that had been inside the bathroom, snapping at Lance's face with it's rotting teeth. 

Reacting purely on instinct Keith rushed to help and kicked the zombie off of Lance, and then stomped his booted foot on the creatures head. There was a loud crack in the air as the skull snapped under the pressure and Keith's face contorted in disgust at the sound. Blood slowly seeped out of the creature's head and onto the tiled floor. 

Looking over at Lance, who had scooted several feet away from the zombie and was slowly standing up. "You're okay right? It didn't bite you did it?" he asked and Lance shook his head while calming his breathing down. "I-I'm fine," he stumbled slightly. Keith watched as Lance went into the bathroom and tried to turn on the tap water, and then came back out looking like he was about to break down in tears. Even though it was clear that Lance was about to cry he gave Keith a weak smile and Keith felt empathy for him. 

Sliding his bag off he unzipped it and pulled out a water bottle and handed it to him with a soft smile, "here take a breather for a second," he stated as Lance smiled a little more genuinely while taking the water. "Thanks," he heard him mutter before sucking down half of the water bottle in one swig, and then capping the bottle to save it for later. Keith just walked to the front desk and opened his back, pulling out a map he had stored in it, "The city of Arus a few days south of us, but we should steer clear of there since it'll be swarming with the undead," he noted. 

"Wait.. you said we right?" Lance asked with a hint of hope and desperation in his voice.

Yes Keith had said _we_ , but mostly because he pitied Lance. He doubted Lance would survive much longer on his own if he didn't have someone with him. Plus if Keith ever got in a tight situation, he had would have Lance to take his place so he could escape. "Maybe, but you have to learn to defend yourself because I'm not going to keep saving your ass," Keith stated and he saw a smile curl on Lance's lips.

"Either way, we need to leave this place soon. Like now soon, all of your screaming probably attracted the horde of zombie's west of us."

"Hey you try not screaming from two surprise attacks in one day, anyway I just came from that direction. There are some houses that way that are stable enough to bunk in for a few nights."

"That's.... actually helpful."

"What do you mean  _actually_?"

Keith just smirked while closing the map and shoving it in his bag, "let's get going before it gets dark," he said while ignoring Lance's question.

 

 


	2. Seperations and Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning to base all the cities off of planet names from the series. Just letting you all know that. Also I tried to make sure I made this one longer then the first chapter, since the first chapter seemed very small in my opinion.

Keith started walking out of the gas station, with Lance at his heels, and pointed to his left, “I know that in 15 miles that way there is a town that we can go to. It’ll give us a better chance at finding food, and a place to sleep. There’ll be more of the undead there though.. It’d be helpful if we could find a _working_ vehicle on the way,” he said trying to sound somewhat hopeful.

Looking over he saw Lance smile, at the thought of actually getting a decent sleep and meal, and maybe even getting a vehicle. "That sounds like a good plan. But do you think we'll be able to get there before sundown?" Lance asked. "I just don't think it'd be safe to be walking past dark, since it'd be a lot harder to see the dead."

“Fifteen miles is a long way to make in a few hours without a car, and every car I found has been dead.” Lance pointed out while looking up at the sky for a second. “And judging by where the sun is at now," Lance turned to face him. Keith couldn't help that he rolled his eyes a little at Lance, he doubted that Lance knew anything about the time and sun's correlation, but he felt a little guilty for rolling his eyes when he saw Lance frown a little woundedly. "I'd say we have about three hours of daylight left. We could walk a few miles back down the road, where there’s a few empty houses that I passed by," Lance suggested, "Though the houses back there looked pretty beaten up...so maybe it isn't the best idea to go back," he added and frowned.

Keith wanted to get to the town as quick as possible, but Lance was right about not having enough daylight. Even though he still didn’t think Lance actually knew what he was talking about when he looked at the sun and guessed the time they had. There was no way they were making the trip in the few hours they had left of daylight.

“We can go back go those houses you mentioned and tomorrow we can start to head to the town in the morning. They might be a little beaten up but as long as they have a door we’ll be relatively safe” he agreed while gesturing for Lance to lead the way to where he had seen the few houses. “Did you look inside the buildings already for food?” He asked hoping they had a chance to find something there for food.

Lance shook his head, and turned left down the road with Keith following behind him. "No, I didn't. I was alone, and afraid I'd run into a zombie in the house, and the only weapon I have is my gun, and using that would only attract more zombies."

Keith watched as Lance glanced to their right as he heard gurgling groans coming from two zombies that were making their way towards them. “I think we may have attracted some of that _unwanted attention_ you mentioned earlier..” Lance said while subconsciously shuffling a little closer to Keith. Lance didn’t have a silent weapon like Keith did, and even if he did the undead terrified him. He always froze up when they got to close.

Keith wasn’t phased by the deads’ presence at the moment, it wasn’t like they were fast, and Keith knew he could take care of them if they got too close for comfort. Little did he notice Lance’s nervousness as the dead followed them down the road.

Lance looked unsurely at Keith who nodded to him so Lance knew he knew about the zombies presence, but did nothing about them for the time being. 

Lance was mindful of the two zombies that were limping towards them, but just he ignored them -or at least trying to ignore them- as they got closer. Assuming Keith would take care of it if they got any closer.

Keith nodded, “yeah I can see how that would be a problem,” he said and followed him before the growling of the undead behind them had annoyed Keith enough. “Jesus, shut up,” he mumbled as he unsheathed the blade from his thigh holster and irritatedly walked towards the zombies that had been following them and stuck it in the zombies’ skulls one after the other.

Their corpse like bodies dropped to the ground lifelessly and Keith gagged at the putrid smell. After flicking some of the blood off his knife, he slid the knife back in its sheath. 

Lance watched as Keith didn't even hesitate to kill the undead behind them. Lance knew that he wasn't going to make it out of this apocalypse alive, since he would always hesitate to kill a zombie. He knew that being so hesitant, and not being able to adapt to this new life was going to get him killed one day, but he tried not to think about it. He also knew he couldn't stay with Keith forever. Lance was a dead weight and knew as soon as Keith got the chance, he would ditch him. He was probably just keeping Lance around so that if the get crowded with zombies, Keith could easily sacrifice him to save himself. Sighing a little in disappointment at the thought Lance kept walking.

Keith sighed as he continued walked with Lance and pulled his hair back since it was sticking to his neck from the humid heat. It was getting longer than he normally liked it and his bangs were constantly in his eyes, partially blinding him at times. He pulled a hair tie off of his wrist, just to put his hair up enough that it wouldn’t bother him.

Truthfully, Keith didn’t think Lance would want to stay with him long, he knew that Lance probably had a family he would want to find, and that would leave Keith on his own again. Shifted his thoughts to something else and thought of how jumpy and unsure Lance was each time he was attacked. With Lance being attacked as often as he was today Keith knew he wouldn’t always be there to save him. He couldn’t have Lance jumping and cowering each time a zombie got too close.

After a little bit of walking Keith found an opportunity to help him out. “Hey Lance, you see that zombie over there that’s walking diagonal towards us?” He asked and unsheathed his knife and held it out to him. He started to rethink things for a moment since he was very attached to his knife since it has sentimental value to him, but Lance needed to learn some way to defend himself so he gave it to him. For the moment at least. He definitely wanted it back. “I want you to go kill it,” he said while flicking his eyes towards the zombie diagonal from them for a moment and then back at Lance.

Keith could see the blood drain from Lance’s face and he looked at the knife in his hand and then the zombie that was wandering slowly towards them. “I’ll be right behind you things go wrong,” Keith promised and gestured for Lance to go on.

"Uh..." Lance looked at the knife that was now in his hands, and then looked at Keith, unsure. "I don't know if I can.. I've never done it before." Lance looked over at the zombie that was approaching them. Keith must be trying to teach him how to use a close range weapon. Lance would have rathered to just use a gun, or anything that didn't require him to actually be close to a zombie to kill it. But he trusted that Keith would save him again if anything went wrong. Lance bit his lip and turned his head away from the zombie to look at Keith. "You promise I'll be okay?"

Keith nodded, “I’ve got your back if something happens,” he assured and looked at the slowly shuffling zombie. “You can’t rely on guns because they make to much noise. If we ever get separated you need to know how to save yourself,” he said explaining why he was making Lance do this. “Plus it looks like this one is a slower one so you’ll be fine.”

Lance searched Keith’s expression to make sure he wasn’t lying. Minutes ago Keith was making playful insults at him, and now he was sincerely worrying about what happened to him if they got separated.

"Okay.." Lance looked back at the zombie and took a deep breath, trying to swallow all his fears. He took a few shaky steps towards the zombie. He could sense Keith right behind him as he approached the zombie. Lance couldn't even tell if the zombie was male or female because of how bad their face was messed up. Blood stained clothes and face, rotting grey skin, sharp crooked teeth, sunken eyes, and that awful smell. It looked almost as if the zombie’s face hand been shoved into a meat grinder.

There was only a few feet between him and the zombie, and then Lance began to freeze up. What if it bit him? What if it was still alive after stabbing it? What if? Lance couldn't do it. He didn't want to do it. The zombie growled and grabbed Lance's shoulders, making him nearly drop the knife. He hadn’t realize how close the zombie had got to him and he panicked pushing it away with one hand and used the other hand to then sink Keith's knife into the zombie's head. The zombie fell to the ground, not moving, with the knife still stuck in it's skull. Lance was panting and shaking.

Keith watched and nearly panicked for Lance when he hesitated and the zombie had grabbed his shoulders. He breathed in relief when Lance killed it and gently gripped Lance’s shoulder. “Wow you had me worried for a second there, you did good. You can’t freeze up like that though,” he stated and reached down and unsheathed the knife from the zombie’s skull.

When Keith touched his shoulder, he smiled. The touch gave him this weird feeling of happiness. Lance had actually been able to kill a zombie, and Keith congratulated him for it.

Lance knew he had to work on not getting so frightened, but for now he didn't want to worry about that. "But I actually did it all by myself!" Lance felt proud of himself. He watched Keith pull the knife out of the zombie's head, seeing dark red blood ooze out of the wound. It made him feel nauseous, so he frowned and turned away. He sighed. "Well I guess we should keep going. 

Keith smiled slightly at how happy Lance was with himself that he had been able to kill a zombie on his own. “Yeah we should probably hurry too, we need to get there when it’s still daylight so that we can barricade the place enough to feel somewhat safe,” he said while wiping the dark blood off on the dead undead’s shirt and resheathing it in his holster.

"Okay, then let's go. I think if we keep walking for like an hour-ish, we should be able to get there." Lance explained. "There wasn't that many houses, but they were all pretty big and spread out. So I think maybe we should check out one of the houses for the night, and then leave the rest for tomorrow." He suggested. "Also I'm hoping there's lots of food in the house. And hopefully a comfortable bed." Lance sighed. He was really excited to get there and take a nap.

Keith nodded in agreement, “yeah sleep would be nice, although we’ll probably have to take turns sleeping throughout the night as a safety precaution. I’ll take first watch,” he said while he walked with him. He hoped that the houses were stable enough so they wouldn’t have to take watch, and find reasonable food to eat since Keith was starving, literally.

Sure he had a few things in his bag that he had previously stashed away in the gas station, but he tried to hold off on eating since food was scarce normally.

"Thanks for taking first watch." Lance smiled. He was really starting to like Keith. He seemed really nice, considering he pretty much saved him back at the gas station. Things were silent between them for the first five minutes or so before Lance spoke. "So, uh, did you have anyone else with you when this started? Any family?" Lance asked, trying to start up a conversation as they walked. Since silence was awkward for him.

Keith’s expression darkened slightly and he shook his head, “no.. I knew someone named Shiro, but I don’t know where he his anymore. He was the closest thing I had to a father so I guess I’m a little worried about him,” he said when he knew he was more than just a little worried. “What about you? Do you have any family you’re looking for?” he asked, trying to shift the conversation away from himself. 

Lance nodded his head, looking down at his feet as they walked. "Mmhm. The night this all happened, I was staying over at a friend's house--his name was Hunk. I hadn't told my parents that I went out, but I would always go out on weekends and nobody would notice, so I didn't think to tell my parents that I was leaving. Anyways, when I had left that morning to go home, it was chaos everywhere..” he mumbled off for a second before he continued. “I hadn't known what was going on, so I had went to go ask my neighbor if he knew. But when I got there I came to figure out he had turned into a zombie, but I didn't really know what had happened to him at the time so I immediately ran home. When I got there, everyone was gone.. Everyone just vanished, they didn’t even wait..” he said in a pained tone and for a moment Keith could have sworn he saw tears form in Lance’s eyes.

“So now I'm trying to find them," Lance said while putting a determined look on his face. He was going to find his family no matter what. "Though I don't know what happened to Hunk. I went back there to see if I could stay with him and his family, but of course when I got there, they were gone too."

Keith nodded again, “they might have headed to the nearest hospital or church for support and to regroup with other families,” Keith suggested. He frowned slightly knowing that once Lance found his family he would leave him to he on his own again. It was nice to have Lance’s company since talking to him distracted him from his in-caving stomach.

"Yeah, most likely. I was stupid and didn't think to go there though." He frowned. Lance began kicking a small pebble that was on the road as they walked. Lance looked over at Keith. "Oh, hey, are you hungry at all? I think I have one more candy bar in my bag if you want it. I gotta repay you somehow for saving me." Lance pulled his bag off his back and began rummaging through it.

A pang of guilt flooded into Keith, he hadn’t told Lance about the food in his back that he had stashed away from him. In his defense though, he hadn’t planned on taking Lance with him. Lance was willingly giving him the little food he had when Keith _had_ some, not much, that he had hidden from him.

“You don’t have to do that, you’ll probably need it if we don’t find food at the houses,” he said and gripped his stomach for growling loudly at the thought of food. “I am half considering eating my shoe though,” he chuckled with a slightly laugh to make light of the situation when he felt sick from the lack of food. Why did his stomach have to betray him like that?

"Oh come on, Keith. You're probably starving. I can hear your stomach." Lance pulled the candy bar out of his bag, and then put the bag back on. He held the candy bar out for Keith to take. "C'mon, just take it. I'm not that hungry anyways." Lance lied. He was starving, but he knew Keith probably wanted it more than him.    

Keith couldn’t do that to Lance, he knew Lance was lying. That was probably Lance’s last direct root to food, he couldn’t take that from him. “Lance I’m fine you should eat it..” he stated stubbornly with a firm expression which told Lance he wasn’t taking in.

Immediately he felt bad since Lance’s face looked a little hurt that he didn’t take the food he offered. Lance was only trying to help him, and Keith was hiding his food. Slowly Lance ate his own candy bar, but Keith could tell he was still hungry after.

“Do you think this will every end? Or at least get under control?” He asked to try and shift to a slightly different subject so he wouldn’t have to keep feeling guilty.

"I don't know," Lance answered honestly. "I like to hope that it's going to end, or at least get under control, but I really don't know..this could possibly be the end of the world." He frowned, shoving his hands in his pockets, still looking down. He gave an upset sigh. "I really hope that help will come for us. Then I can find my family, and everything will be okay." Lance then turned his head to Keith. "And of course, you can come with me and I'll help you find that Shiro guy you were talking about." He gave Keith a hopeful smile.

Keith almost felt like tearing up since this was the first time someone had been so nice to him in awhile, “thanks, I’ll stick to you then and we won’t have to face this alone,” he said to assure Lance that he wouldn’t ditch him for no reason. Nobody could get through something like this on their own, even Keith had struggled to get this far. “Maybe one of the houses with have a generator and we’ll have running water,” he said trying to think of something hopeful.

Lance smiled. He was so glad he had found Keith. Keith was great company and also a good fighter. Lance knew he could rely on him. It had only really been a few hours since Lance had met Keith, but he already trusted him.

Lance looked up at the road ahead, seeing a red roof peeking out behind a few trees. "Keith, we made it!" Lance beams. He starts running full speed towards the house. His sneakers crunching dirt and rocks underneath them as he ran.

Keith looked up and saw the red roof and then Lance just took off towards it and Keith followed, “Lance wait, careful!” He said since zombies this was the woods where the hoard was in, and Keith had learned from experience that they hid by the trees and come out and grab you if you weren’t careful enough.

Keith tried to keep up but with his practically empty stomach he felt nauseous and his vision started to spin making him have to stop and lean on a tree for a moment. Holding his head and trying to slow the spinning.

Lance sprinted through the trees. "Come on, we're almost there!" Lance exclaimed and turned around and then stopped running when Keith was nowhere in sight. "Where the hell did he go..?" Lance asked while panting slightly after running. Looking through the trees to try and spot Keith.

Lance started walking back the way he came, in hopes to meet back up with Keith.

Out of nowhere, a zombie came out from behind a tree a few feet away from Lance, catching him off guard. He stumbles backwards out of surprise, but he didn’t panic this time. Instead he just swerved a little and jogged away from the creature. As he ran through the wooded area, more and more zombies kept showing up. That was when Lance started to panic. "Keith!!" Lance cried out in a worried voice.

He couldn’t find Keith and it worried him, what if he was bit? Or caught? What if he left him completely?! Another zombie walks out from behind a tree, grabbing Lance's arm and he felt the blood drain from his face. He tried wrenching his arm away, but it had an iron grip.  From the corners of his eyes Lance could see other zombies slowly making their way closer. Soon he would be completely surrounded.

Keith heard Lance’s cry for help, which was soon followed with the reeking stench from the undead and he knew he had to get to Lance before something happened to him. Pushing himself away from the tree he started running again, but this time he didn’t stop when he got nauseated. He knew Lance liked to freeze up around zombies and right now Lance was defenseless in a woods that had an entire hoard in it.

Running faster in desperation to find him, not wanting to be alone again, just having Lance around made things seem less depressing then they were. “Lance where are you?!” He yelled and had to jump back as a zombie reached out for him and his eyes widened at how many zombies there actually were here. Drawing his knife out, but even he couldn’t take out this many on his own. They were scattered everywhere. Some of them liked to group together making it harder to get through.

Pushing a few out of the way trying to make his way through, hoping he was quick enough to not get caught in their grasps. Stabbing one next to him that was reaching towards him, and paled when he saw the one on top of Lance and two others about to follow.

“Lance close your eyes,” he ordered while running forward towards them and with that he sank the blade into the back of the zombie’s skull, darkened blood seeped over and landed on Lance’s face. Keith lifted the zombie up and off of Lance, dropping it to the ground. Then quickly pulled Lance up, “run don’t stop just run,” he said and started pushing Lance towards the house.

Lance was so relieved when Keith showed up and saved him. Keith had stabbed the zombie, and Lance now had large drops of dark blood on his face from the zombie Keith killed. It smelt so bad, he wanted to throw up. Lance ran as fast as he could like Keith told him to, dodging every zombie that tried to grab him until he was out of the woods. Being a little faster with his longer legs he looked back, waiting for Keith when he got to the house first.

Keith ran behind Lance and took a little longer to get there, but did catch up after a bit. “Quick inside before they follow,” he said and ran inside the house and waited for Lance to follow then shut all the doors and windows and barricaded them so the zombies couldn’t reach them, “stay close and don’t go into any rooms with closed doors without a weapon, there could be a zombie in there,” he warned. Then stopped to hold his spinning head for a second. He knew he needed to eat, but he would feel horrible if Lance figured out he had hid food from him.

Lance quickly ran inside before Keith shut the door. He leaned his back against the wall. He was tired, hungry, filthy, sweaty, and out of breath. He tried to calm his breathing, and tried to get his legs to stop shaking. Lance wiped the nasty dark blood off of his face and then wiped it on his jeans. He was trying so hard to fight the urge to cry. He looked at Keith. "I can't believe you saved me again." Lance tried to give him a nice smile, but with all his other emotions about what happened, it made the smile come out a little forced.

Keith saw Lance about to have a break down, and gave him an empathetic look. “It’s not your fault you didn’t have a short range weapon, and even with a short range weapon the surprise attack would have put anyone in the same situation,” he said trying to cheer Lance up and put a hand on his shoulder, “you made it this far on your own and that speaks for itself,” he said while boring his gaze into Lance’s eyes, but for dropping his arm off his shoulder and went to look around.

“Let’s check the kitchen for food,” he stated hopefully.

"Yeah, maybe.." Lance smiled hopefully. This was the second time Keith had touched Lance's shoulder. He didn’t understand why he liked it so much, and he figured that it was just nice for him to feel cared for again. Whenever Keith touched him, his face would flush and he would feel like he had butterflies in his stomach.

Lance headed to the kitchen with Keith. The place looked untouched, like no one had even been in here. Lance noticed bread on the counter, but it was stale and starting to mold. Lance scrunched his nose, “gross..” and then left it there, and started rummaging through the cupboards.    

Keith rummaged around the kitchen and ended up opening up all the cabinets. A lot of the things had spoiled but he found things like rice, flour in one of the cabinets and he opened the pantry to find an entire shelf of canned food. Okay. To be honest, a shelf a food wouldn’t last long but it was WAY better then what they originally had.

He stood there baffled for a moment and then reached in and grabbed one of the cans to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. “Lance...” he mumbled to get his attention and show him what he had found.

"Yeah?" Lance turned his head to Keith as he went through a drawer, which didn’t have anything special in it, except for maybe silverware. He closed it and walked over to where Keith was. Curious to see what he had found. Lance looked inside the pantry, seeing all of the canned foods. "Oh my god!...there’s so much food!" Lance exclaimed, not believing his eyes."Finally, we won't be starving anymore!"

“It’s only a shelf full so we have to be careful not to eat it all to quickly,” he stated before he handed a can to Lance and got one out for himself and opened the drawers till he found a can opener. Normally Keith would have waited to warm it up but he didn’t care if it was cold or not at the moment, it was food that that’s all that mattered. Keith opened his and then gave Lance the can opener before he dug into the can of black beans he had.

Lance nodded as he took the can opener from Keith. "Yeah, I know, I know. We can't eat it all in one sitting,” Lance said while setting himself on top of the countertop and opened up the can of peaches Keith had handed to him and began to eat. Lance used his fingers to get the peaches out, instead of using a spoon that they had in the kitchen like a normal person. Lance was so grateful that whoever had lived here before had left all of their food. When he had finished his food, he was still hungry. Wanting more but he knew that he shouldn't. Lance set the empty can aside on the counter.

Keith finished his rather quickly and looked at the bottom of the empty can for a minute since he was still hungry, but he could think clearly again. Sighing slightly as he leaned against the counter then in curiosity he checked to see if the water worked and frowned slightly when it didn’t. He felt disgusted at himself for all the sweat, dirt, and blood that had been on him for days now. He knew he probably looked as bad as he smelt. “I’m going to see if I can find something else to change into,” he said and walked up the staircase.

"Wait a sec, I'm gonna come with you,” Lance stated while hopping off the counter and followed him to the stairs. "I need to change too, and also you don't know if there's a zombie up there, so it could be dangerous to go alone, right?" Lance asked while following Keith up to the top of the stairs. In truth though Lance was just nervous to be left alone, if something managed to break in he felt like he should be around someone who knew what they were doing.

Keith nodded in agreement, “we should find you a knife as well so you can defend yourself easier,” he said while walking up the staircase to a hallway with three doors. Two on the right and one door and the left. All three of them were closed, “well pick your poison I suppose,” Keith said and went to the door on the left.

Lance picked the first door on the right. He quietly turned the knob and opened the door cautiously. Peeking inside he found a small bathroom. Walking inside, the door creaking a bit as he open the door fully. He checked behind the shower curtain, just to be sure there was no zombie. "This room's clear." Lance called as he left the room to go check one of the others.

He decided to check the other door on the right while Keith checked out the left side. He did the same as he did with the other room. He quietly turned the knob, trying to listen for any groaning zombie noises. When didn’t hear anything, he opened the door fully. This one was a bedroom, not a particularly clean one, but it looked like it had been used recently.

He was just about to tell Keith to come in the room and check it out, but before he could even turn around, someone whacked him from behind with a crowbar. Lance fell to the ground in pain. Fortunately, they didn’t hit him over the head, so he was still conscious. Maybe in a bit of pain, but still conscious.

"You picked the wrong person to mess with!" The person said, holding the crowbar like a baseball bat, ready to hit Lance again if he moved.

Lance groaned in pain on the floor. Then he scrunched his eyebrows together when he could have sworn he heard that voice somewhere before. Looked up at the person who had hit him and immediately recognized her. "Wait! Pidge! It's me, Lance!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I updated for everyone like I promised! Whew this chapter definitely was a lot longer then the first XD


	3. Racing hearts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm soooo sorry for the delay in updating. I promised myself that I would try and update every week, but as you all see I've already failed that. Oops. Oh well, I'm back now, yaaay.  
> Right here is where I'm starting to branch off from the roleplay I was doing with a friend, from here I'm making this more of my own story but still the same plot and ideas behind it.

Keith had been holding a small picture frame that he had found on the dresser that had a picture of a family with two kids in it, when he heard a thud come from the other room followed by Lance exclaiming something in a panicked voice. Dropping the picture Keith bolted towards the room he had last seen Lance walk into.

 

With his knife drawn to kill whatever was threatening his new companion’s safety he stopped to see a small girl. At least he thought it was a girl. Her hair was cut short and wearing a baggy sweatshirt so it wasn’t like he could tell for sure.

 

Lance was slowly sitting up while clutching his side, and Keith figured that’s where he had been hit with the crowbar the ‘presumably girl’ had.

With a groan Lance shot the her a glare, “Did you really have to hit me that hard!?" he asked in a rather loud voice. The girl dropped her weapon automatically, and Keith watched as it fell to the carpeted floor with a thud.

 

"Shit! Lance! Oh my god, I didn't know it was you! I’m so sorry," She exclaimed while reaching out a hand to pull her taller friend up. Keith folded his arms, a little miffed that he didn’t know who she was, and wanted answers. A scowl slowly found it’s way across his face as he grew impatient. He knew that Lance obviously knew her, but he didn’t like being in the dark about something.

 

"It's fine,” Lance groaned again while he continued to rub his, now bruised, side. Then he looked at Pidge and smiled brightly, and tackled her in a hug. Squeezing her and lifting her off the ground in the process, “oh my god I thought you were dead..” Lance said as tears of relief and started to shed down his face. “Lance you’re getting your gross salty face fluids on me,” she complained but was hugging him back with a smile.

 

When Lance finally let go of her, she looked at Keith warily for a second, "Who's he?" she asked and Keith immediately tensed. Feeling like he had just been put on the spot. He was terrible with introductions. His first impression with Lance was holding a knife above his head.

 

Lance obviously saw how Keith had froze up and smiled, “this is Keith. He’s nice.. Well nice-ish, but he’s helped me out a lot today..” Lance said and frowned a little and shrugged his shoulders a bit, a little upset with himself for depending on Keith so much to save his ass.

 

Pidge nodded and looked like she was about to say something but was cut off from the sound of banging downstairs. Checking out the window she paled, “what the hell!? Did you guys lead them here?!” she exclaimed as the two boys checked out the window to see zombies surrounding the porch.

“Oops…” Lance muttered and Pidge glared at them both. “Oops!? OOPS!? You lead a horde of dead to my front door and all you have to say is ooPS!?” she exclaimed as Lance held his hands up in innocence. “Hey! It’s not like we _tried_ to lead them here. We were a little busy running for our lives to think of the later consequences,” Lance defended.

 

Pidge scowled and looked like she was going to yell at him some more, but Keith intervened. “Enough, we have to get out of here before they break the front door. We can argue about this later,” he remarked while frowning at both of them.

 

Lance was the first to fall into place and nodded, “right.. But how are we going to get out? The front door is blocked,” he pointed out.

 

“Actually in our garage there’s a motorcycle that Matt never had the guts to use,” Pidge stated and Keith’s face lit up with a grin. He didn’t know who this Matt guy was, but if he had a motorcycle he liked him.

 

“Perfect, Pidge to you have a bag you can pack full of the food on your shelf downstairs?” Keith asked as she scrunched her brow and thought before walking over to her closet and searched for a minute till she pulled out a small white duffle bag.

 

“This’ll have to do,” she stated and flinched at the banging on the door from downstairs. Glancing worriedly at her door, Lance could tell she was afraid to go down there and risk the chance of the zombies breaking in and getting her.

 

“Keith you go get the motorcycle started in the garage, I’ll go get the canned food from downstairs,” Lance said while taking the duffle bag from Pidge and ruffled her hair before jogging off to the stairs.

 

Pidge scowled as Lance ruffled her hair, but internally she was relieved and thankful that Lance had pulled through for her.

 

Keith opened his mouth like he was going to object to Lance going to get the food, since he didn’t want to risk losing him. He had just started to think that they could possible get along, and he didn’t want to lose him already.

 

“Come on Keith, I’ll take you to the garage,” Pidge said while leading Keith down the stairs and to the garage door. Once the door opened Keith gawked at the red motorcycle with amped thrusts on the back.

“You said your brother never rode this?” he asked while glancing at Pidge who nodded. “He never rode it, but he worked on it a lot. He had a friend that knew a lot about motorcycles and he learned how to fix them up for him, and add improvements,” she stated and watched as Keith circled around it. Practically drooling.

 

“Keith stop drooling we need to leave, do you know how to drive this or not?” she asked and Keith cocked an eyebrow at her question. “Of course, why wouldn’t I?” he asked as Pidge folded her arms. “How are all three of us going to fit on?” she asked.

 

“We’ll have to squeeze,” he stated plainly and then flinched as he heard a large bang from inside the house. A wave of concern washed over Keith as he knew Lance was in there. Running to the garage’s door, “Lance are you alright!?” he called only to see Lance running to them while zipping up the duffle bag in the process.

 

“Guys we need to go! Like NOW! They got inside!” Lance exclaimed and slammed the house’s door behind him to stop the slowly approaching zombies.

 

Keith nodded and pointed at the bike, “Pidge you get on first,” he stated only for her and she followed his demand without question. Walking over to the garage door button, he pressed it and the garage’s door started to open up.

 

Climbing on behind Pidge he leaned over her to grasp the handle bars, luckily the keys were already in the ignition so he didn’t have to search for them. “Lance climb on!” he exclaimed and Lance handled the duffle bag to Pidge before he slowly got on behind Keith.

 

“Is this safe?” he asked worriedly and Keith frowned and rolled his eyes at the dumb question. Of course it wasn’t safe, a motorcycle was not built to hold three people. He wouldn’t tell them that though since that would only made the others more concerned.

 

“We’ll be fine,” Keith assured while turning the key and watching as the motorcycle roared to life. A grin grew across his face as, “you might want to hold on to something though,” he commented a little quieter so it was hard for Lance to hear of the roaring engine.

 

“What was that?!” Lance asked while practically yelling in Keith’s ear, Pidge however heard and was now hugging the duffle bag for dear life. Without much warning Keith turned the handle, and the force from the amped thrusters sped them off and brought them on pull a wheelie. Lance screamed and hugged the backpack on Keith’s back, while trying desperately to not fall off.

 

It took Keith a second to get used to the extra boost, but he soon got a grasp of it and brought them back down to two wheels and raced them down the road. “Keith this is NOT the speed limit!!” Lance yelled while still holding on for dear life.

 

“I agree with Lance! Slow down!” Pidge exclaimed while squinting her eyes shut.

 

“You two are fine,” Keith assured but slowed down ever so slightly in hopes they would quit whining. Glancing down at the motorcycles dashboard and checked the gas in the motorcycle’s tank and let out a puff of relief when he found it was full.

 

After around ten miles had passed Keith brought it to a stop so they could all catch their breaths and figure out what they would do next. Once he stopped he let the other to stumble off as he stayed straddled to the bike and held it up.

 

“You are INSANE, we could have died!” Pidge exclaimed while glaring at Keith who glared right back. “It was either we stayed and got eaten alive, or we left as quickly as possible,” he stated.

 

“Yeah but you didn’t need to speed, what if we crashed!?” Lance asked and Keith flung his arms up. “We didn’t. We’re safe. We made it out. What do you want to do next?” he asked while placing his hands back on the handle bars.

 

He didn’t like the fact that they were ganging up on him about speeding when he had practically saved them from getting eaten. He had expected Lance to trust him a little more since he had been keeping him safe all day.

 

Lance folded his arms and sighed while looking at Pidge. “I don’t know… it’s going to be getting dark soon and we need to find a place to stay…” Lance pointed out.

 

Pidge fiddled with the duffle bag and ended up sling the strap over her shoulder for the time being. “Hey Lance, doesn’t Hunk’s girlfriend live in the town a few miles away? I think her name was Shay right?” she asked and Lance’s face lit up a little with a smile.

“Yeah! Maybe she’ll still be there and we can house at there place for a few days and maybe find some others,” he said hopefully. Keith doubted that would happen though, so far all the towns he had been to had been deserted. He didn’t want to break that to the other two though.

 

“We can check it out I guess, but don’t get your hopes up,” he warned while sitting up so the others could climb back on.

 

“Hey maybe Hunk’ll even be there, it’s worth the shot right?” Pidge asked with a smile as she climbed on in front of Keith while placing the duffle bag on her lap, as Lance climbed on behind Keith.

 

“Yeah! Let’s just hope he’s cooking for us and not Shay’s grandma,” Lance stated and scrunched his nose at the thought of her awful cooking. Pidge mimicked his face of disgust and nodded in agreement.

 

Keith tried his best to tune them out, but frowned a little while leaning forward to grip the handlebars. All this talk about meeting up with people that they knew made him feel out of place. He didn’t have anyone looking for him. The only person he knew that possibly would had vanished and he didn’t know where to look for him. He promised himself that he wouldn't give up looking for him though, Shiro had always been there for him and he was not going to give up on him when there was still a chance of him being out there. 

 

After just sitting there for a few moments Lance tapped Keith’s shoulder and looked at him a little concernedly, “hey are you alright? You have started yet..” he commented and Keith blinked out of his trance and glanced back at Lance.

 

Noticing for the first time just how close Lance was to him and felt his heart start to race rapidly in his chest. “Yeah I’m fine, I just got a little distracted,” he stated while he looked at Lance incredibly blue eyes before his eyes lingered to his soft lips. Turning his attention back to the road he frowned at himself for staring at Lance. 

 

“How far did you say it was again?” he asked and Pidge answered this time.

 

“Around 15, You’ll find it after you spot a sign that reads. ‘Welcome to the town of Balmera’,” she quoted and Keith nodded. “Sounds good,” he stated before twisting the handle back and starting them down the road.

 

Since they weren’t running for their lives anymore Keith stayed at reasonable speeds, even if they were still over the speed limit.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I am aware that this chapter is much shorter then the other one, but in MY defense I was in a hurry to try and get another chapter out for you guys. I'll try and update more fluently though for you all ^ ^.


	4. Author's Note

I'm very very super ultra sorry for the delay in post, I was dragged into a slim to no wifi range for TWO WEEKS on a vaca with my family. I survived!  ~~with a few bug bites~~. I'll get a chapter out for you guys soon though. Like hopefully _tonight_ kind of soon. And I'll probably rewrite Chapter 2 since it's a little chopped up from transferring it from the rp to here. Sorry about that btw. Thank you for your patience, and I'll make it up to you all with the next chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so there's the first chapter, again this is my first story I've written here so I'm fine with some constructive criticism. I'm up for tips and tricks too, cause I'm still learning how to use this site. I'll try and update often for whoever reads this.


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